Meet the Editors Fighting Racism and Sexism on Wikipedia

WIKIPEDIA’S GOAL IS to democratize the consumption and creation of knowledge. But dig into just who is creating content on Wikipedia—not to mention what kind of content they’re creating—and you’ll find Wikipedia is far from the egalitarian ideal it set out to be.

About 90 percent of Wikipedia editors are men, an issue so well documented it has its own Wikipedia page. The issue has roiled the Wikimedia Foundation for years. It’s studied the problem and set goals for bridging the gap, goals even Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales says the Foundation has “completely failed” to meet. The lack of diversity is so deeply rooted that the National Science Foundation commissioned two studies of why this bias exists.

The problem is, because Wikipedia is run—in theory at least—by and for the people, only the people can correct the imbalance. A growing group of socially minded Wikipedia editors are taking up the cause with a slew of “edit-a-thons” that aim to enhance the coverage of women, minorities, the LGBTQ community, and other underrepresented groups on Wikipedia...